The present disclosure generally relates to fiber arrays and, more particularly to fiber arrays formed using laser bonding of optical fibers to a flat substrate.
Benefits of optical fiber include extremely wide bandwidth and low noise operation. Because of these advantages, optical fiber is increasingly being used for a variety of applications, including, but not limited to, broadband voice, video, and data transmission. Optical fibers are often incorporated into fiber connectors having one or more fiber arrays. These types of connectors are often used in data center and telecommunication systems to provide service connections to rack-mounted equipment and to provide inter-rack connections. For example, optical connectors incorporating fiber arrays are employed in optical cable assemblies and optical devices to provide an optical-to-optical connection wherein optical signals are passed between the optical cable assembly and the optical device.
Fiber arrays used in optical connectors may include optical fibers secured within grooves of a substrate by an adhesive and a cover. Typically, the optical fibers are positioned within the grooves of the substrate and then secured in place using the adhesive and cover. The fiber array may then be incorporated in an optical device (such as an optical connector) to provide optical communication between optical devices. In one example, an optical connector incorporating a fiber array is connected to an edge of a waveguide substrate having waveguides providing opto-electronic channels. The waveguide substrate may be a component of a photonic integrated circuit assembly, for example.
In order to provide high quality signal transfer between optical connectors and optical devices, the optical fibers of the fiber array(s) of the optical connector and the optical features of the optical device must be precisely aligned. Misalignment of these elements may cause signal degradation or may prevent optical signals from passing between the optical connector and the optical device.